Wednesday February 15, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

Goals0's past comments

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Goals0Oct. 30, 2011 - 11:03AM JST

There seems to have a been a big problem with the 2010 census.

the number of people of unidentified nationality rose by 568,120

Many of these were probably foreigners who didn't fill out the nationality question.

But the figure is too high. Many Japanese clearly didn't fill out that question either.

Unlike previous censuses you could mail it in yourself.

Who wants the neighborhood guy responsible for distributing the forms

to know anything about your annual income?

It's unlikely the number of Japanese in Japan actually fell.

Posted in: Robots help Japan's graying, shrinking population
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Goals0Oct. 28, 2011 - 02:25PM JST

The population of Japan increased in fact, up 0.2% to 128,057,352.

The number of people with Japanese nationality declined by 371,294 for a total of 125,358,854.

Posted in: Japan's population growth slowest on record in 2010
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Goals0Oct. 26, 2011 - 05:19PM JST

Kikukawa is out.

Takayama is in.

Press conference at 5.30 pm!

(Facta, the magazine who broke the story in July and August, are not allowed attend the conference.)

Looks like there's more than culture differences, but we'll have to wait and see.

Posted in: Olympus chief Kikukawa resigns amid reports of FBI probe
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Goals0Oct. 25, 2011 - 06:53PM JST

It was on the Mainichi News - Nsuta - at about 6.05.

The story goes back a couple of years now.

She's obviously guilty and had brought stuff in before.

Apparently the Japanese police also had her marked.

But death sentence for it seems harsh.

The bigshots never get caught.

Posted in: Japanese woman sentenced to death in Malaysia for drug smuggling
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Goals0Oct. 23, 2011 - 03:40PM JST

It's still too early to say what exactly happened.

One possibility is that it was money Olympus wanted to invest,

the huge sum that was paid to the advisor,

but such that the Japanese tax authorities would be unaware there was such a sum.

Posted in: Fired Olympus CEO dismisses internal probe
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Goals0Oct. 22, 2011 - 05:27PM JST

One interesting thing is that one of the directors at Olympus is amakudari from the Nikkei group.

Which is why we couldn't expect the Nikkei Shimbun to have a lot of interest in reporting the scandals.

Kuruma, Hiroshi Brief Biography Mr. Hiroshi Kuruma has been serving as Independent Director of OLYMPUS CORPORATION since June 2011. He used to serve as Senior Managing Director of Nikkei Inc., Vice President of Nikkei Business Publications, Inc., as well as President of Aichi Television Broadcasting Co.,LTD.

Posted in: Shareholder groups call for investigation into Olympus deals
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Goals0Oct. 22, 2011 - 10:30AM JST

rarara, you always post the same stuff.

All the problems have been known for a long time. and, in recent months, the issues of Gyrus/others have been taken up repeatedly by magazines such as the very influential monthly Facta.

I do a search of the Japanese newspapers and can't find anything before this month.

With Facta, a magazine I'd never heard of before, I think it's just July and August.

Give us more examples of who and when has discussed this issue prior to June this year.

Posted in: Shareholder groups call for investigation into Olympus deals
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Goals0Jul. 29, 2011 - 10:57AM JST

As you know, the devil is in the details. Some people point to the fact that Japanese had a high smoking rate in the early 1960s but low cancer rates. However when you look at the number of cigarettes consumed per person it was quite few.

The First World War had an important part to play in the story.

•1917-18: US JOINS WORLD WAR I Cigarette rations determined by market share, a great boost to Camel, which had over a third of the domestic market. •Virtually an entire generation return from the war addicted to cigarettes. •Turkish leaf is unavailable; American tobacco farmers get up to 70 cents/pound. •Those opposed to sending cigarettes to the doughboys are accused of being traitors. According to General John J. Pershing: ◦You ask me what we need to win this war. I answer tobacco as much as bullets. ◦Tobacco is as indispensable as the daily ration; we must have thousands of tons without delay.

BTW Obesity in the US will in time impact hugely on mortality, but after the effects of smoking rate decline.

Posted in: Japan ranks first for women's longevity
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Goals0Jul. 29, 2011 - 08:38AM JST

Cleo,

These are US statistics.

In 1900, life expectancy for men was 49.7 years and for women 50.9 years. But by the middle of the century, men could now be expected to live to 65.6 years of age and 71.7 years for women. The increase for women, according to Dr. Crose, was due to women getting into holistic health and balancing their lives while men stayed in the "same old macho" roles. But in fact because of men smoking, a major part of the macho role? (Now if only we could convince men that spitting is as pernicious!)

Life expectancy is going to rise in the US from now as result of the decline in smoking. But of course there's a lag in this of 20 to 30 years.

Posted in: Japan ranks first for women's longevity
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Goals0Jul. 28, 2011 - 12:47PM JST

Cleo, All those factors you mention are true but one overrides all others. The major part of the difference in life expectancy between men and women is a result of the simple fact that men smoke more.

Posted in: Japan ranks first for women's longevity
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Goals0Jul. 08, 2011 - 08:39AM JST

shogakko no toki wa inaka no kawa de kappa no yo ni oyoideita.

It's a mistranslation. She said that she used to swim like a kappa. But apparently that's also an idiom meaning to swim well.

Posted in: Hitomi Kuroki, Junior Chihara given Best Swimmer awards
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Goals0Jul. 04, 2011 - 09:40AM JST

It was a 'tameike', perhaps better translated as reservoir.

A big thing, picture here: www.iza.ne.jp/news/ newsarticle/event/accident/516012/slideshow/420689/

Posted in: 3 children drown in pond in Hyogo
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Goals0Jun. 26, 2011 - 10:19AM JST

Bakumatsu's Jeanne Dark

'Joan of Arc' would be better surely?

Posted in: Haruka Ayase to portray Yaeko Yamamoto in NHK's new drama
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Goals0May. 13, 2011 - 06:36PM JST

In a recent TV commercial Uchida's wife asks what's good about marriage. Uchida replies "No comment. ... Rock 'n' roll!" youtube. com /watch?v=Zr3tNIB9Myk They may have to pull it.

Posted in: Rock musician Yuya Uchida held for assaulting girlfriend
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Goals0May. 06, 2011 - 08:56AM JST

This is something we can perhaps all relate to. In my case it was 2 am, sledgehammer in hand, ready to roll. From somewhere a little birdie told me 'Is that the radical for hand 手 on the left? Oops! It should be the one for water 水.' As a result I was spared something that could have been immensely embarrassing. Check those kanji!

Posted in: Man smashes wrong door in case of mistaken identity
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Goals0Mar. 30, 2011 - 07:16PM JST

The Ginza hostess club story is about a different Tepco executive not Shimizu.

Posted in: TEPCO to scrap 4 reactors at crippled nuclear plant; president hospitalized
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Goals0Mar. 23, 2011 - 11:01AM JST

If I didn't have any water or food I'd be happy to get some, even from the yakuza.

Posted in: Yakuza tone down events, step up relief efforts in quake-stricken areas
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Goals0Mar. 17, 2011 - 08:24PM JST

There's an old clip of Cyndi being, as she thinks, forced to listen to some dreadful singer. This had me in tears the first time I saw it. youtube. com/watch?v=xA0pgTuNF68&feature=related

Posted in: Cyndi Lauper to go ahead with concerts to lift Japan's spirits
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Goals0Mar. 14, 2011 - 08:23AM JST

If you want to know:

In Japan, the western part of the country (Kyoto and west) uses 60 Hz and the eastern part (Tokyo and east) uses 50 Hz. This originates in the first purchases of generators from AEG in 1895, installed for Tokyo, and General Electric in 1896, installed in Osaka. The boundary between the two regions contains four back-to-back HVDC substations which convert the frequency; these are Shin Shinano, Sakuma Dam, Minami-Fukumitsu, and the Higashi-Shimizu Frequency Converter.

Posted in: TEPCO begins power blackouts
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Goals0Mar. 11, 2011 - 08:05AM JST

I think that may be a mejiro (white eye), rather than spring, in the air at a park in Daikanyama.

Posted in: Birdie